


Feels Like Home

by Siriwigs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Marauders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 03:28:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20923415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siriwigs/pseuds/Siriwigs
Summary: James never got to go to Hogwarts, as the Potters moved to France when he was nine to expand the business.  But when dark forces begins to spread terror in his home country, James returns home to join forces with the Order of the Phoenix.





	1. Chapter 1

PETER

The room was filled with the distinct murmur that usually fills the silence before an important meeting. No reason to keep your voice down yet, but you do it anyway, in respect for what’s about to come. And it was a very important meeting. All meetings of the Order of the Phoenix was important, and today was no exception. If you were an outsider looking in, you would be perplexed of what these people had in common. The oldest looked to be at least a hundred years old, a man with long beard and lilac robes, solemn expression but with a twinkle in his eyes in deep discussion with a twenty-five something rugged looking ginger fellow, wearing a knitted sweater and jeans.

The youngest had just turned eighteen, and Peter Pettigrew, as his name was, was talking to a girl his own age, with big green eyes and her deep red hair in a long braid. Beside them sat their friends from school, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, Sirius was studying his hand absentmindedly, listening to the conversation next to him with one ear,and Remus was staring out in the distance, looking truly exhausted.

The old man stands up, and the room is suddenly quiet, and all eyes turn to him.

”Dear friends” Dumbledore begins. ”It is with deepest regret i inform you that our order member Clement Kollum is still missing, and we have no clue about his whereabouts, however we must not lose hope. My great aunt once went missing, and she returned, safe and sound, almost 20 years later, at least I think it was her, you see, she came back as an extraordinary talkative parrot.

Peter knew that there was only two possible explanations to Clements disappearance. One, he had been caught by Death Eaters, or two, he had disappeared willingly. Peter knew this, because he had, more than once, had those thoughts himself. To leave the Order, leave the country, and to not come back until this blasted war was over. He hadseen little of the action yet, but what he had seen, had scared him to the core. His friends from school however seemed to not understand the risk they all where taking, or they simply didn’t care. Lily had stood face to face with the Dark Lord himself just days before, escaping by an inch of her life. But today none could guess it by looking at her, calm and lovely as ever, smiling at Dumbledores joke (Peter thoughtit was a joke at least, you could never really know with Dumbledore).

A knock at the front door, thesound magnified by magic, ran through the room, and Dumbledore smiled.

”New recruit” he said pleasantly, ”Unfortunately not a very punctual one. I’ll be right back, please excuse me” The murmur began again at his departure, and immediately quieted down again when he came back two minutes later, a tall young man behind him.

”This is James Potter, he has lived in France since he was nine, but has recently moved back to England. I trust you all will do your very best to make him feel welcome.”

Peter sized up the newcomer, who seemed to be about the same age as Peter. He had exceptionally messy black hair, glasses, expensive looking clothes and a last name that Peter recognized as pureblood.Peter got the distinct impression that being introduced to a room full of strangers didn’t bother James Potter in the slightest, and he couldn’t help but to be impressed by the strangers natural confidence. Dumbledore gestured to the empty chair next to him, and James Potter sat down as Dumbledore continued the meeting.

The secondDumbledore had concluded the meeting finished, and the volume in the room rose, Sirius Black turned to his friends. ”Monsieur-just-moved-here-from-France, a Potter huh, I bet he’s bad news.”

”How so?” says Remus, and he almost sounds bored, like he’s heard Sirius conspiracy theories one time too many.

”Potters are pureblood”

”So are you”

”Yeah, but I’m special”

”Oh here we go”

”I bet he’s a spy, I’m telling you, he knows no one, how did he even find out about the Order?”

”You don’t know who he knows”

The pair continued to yap for a minute until Lily interrupted with a forceful whisper.

”Shut up you two, they’re coming over!”

And as she said, Dumbledore and Potter was making their way through the crowd towards them. Potter looked examined them all quickly, though his eyes lingered on Lily a moment longer (this didn’t surprise Peter at all, since Lily happened to be a very pretty girl).

”Youngsters” their old headmaster greeted them. ”I think it would be appropriate if you four take extra care in making James feel like one of us, don’t you think?” Peter looked up to see if this statement was enough to finally embarrass Potter, but the person in question seemed a bit too dazzled by Lily to react. Lily’s cheeks turned a red at the attention, and Potter cracked a smile at her bashfulness. Meanwhile Dumbledore, seemingly obvious, was waiting patiently for an answer.

”Of course we will Professor” says Remus,”Don’t worry”

”Excellent!” Dumbledore says, ”Sirius, don’t you have a mission later today?”

”Yes Professor, but you know I work best alone…”

”Nonsense, I’m sure James will be of help, or at least not be in your way, won’t you James?”

”Huh? Yeah sure, I’ll be dead helpful” says Potter, without a trace of a french accent and he grins, once more. Sirius frowns back, but Potters smile is unfaltering. Remus is looking worriedly back and forth between the two young men, and Lily, still a tint of red in her cheeks, looks at Peter and shrugs her shoulders.

SIRIUS

Anyone unfamiliar with Sirius Black would call his departure from the Orders meeting that day ”storming out”. Those who knew him however would simply call it ”leave in a huff”. Potter however, didn’t know Sirius Black, but followed him out in the street just the same.

”Ok mate, let’s get one thing clear” says Sirius as the pair of them is out on the street. Sirius takes out a cigarette and lights it, without using his wand or any muggle device. ”I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you.I don’t like your name, or your preppy clothes or that fucking smirk on your face.”

”Did I do something to offend you, mate?” said Potter.

”Lets’s just get this over with”

”You seem a bit tense”

”Don’t” Sirius hand goes to his wand, and James fucking Potter tilts his head and has the audacity to smirk again. Before he left the meeting, Lily had grabbed Sirius arm and told him to ”Calm the fuck down”. But Lily didn’t hadn’t grown up with the same people Sirius had, and neither had Remus or Peter. Entitlement and superiority was all over James Potter, the same entitlement and superiority Sirius seen in his parents, his relatives, and even his own brother at times. The very thing Sirius had fought all his life to distance himself from, was now standing in front of him, smirking, pretending to be an ally. 

If Sirius was a more insightful person, he might have realized that his animosity for this person he had just met might be the result of a bad hangover more than a talent for judging character. But Sirius wasn’t a very insightful person (at least not yet) and the hangover he was nursing was truly a bad one. So he stepped closer to James Potter, well into the other mans personal space, and spoke with a low growl.

”I got a job to do today, and it’s an important one. Much more important than say, your health or general wellbeing. So I suggest you back the fuck down before I decide that you’re in my way.”

Sirius realized two things when he stood face to face with James Potter. One was that Potter was a couple of inches taller than him. The other was that he could look awfully intimidating when he stopped smirking.

”You smell like a liquor store mate, I think it’s you who should stay the hell out of my way today”.

”Well I’m sure this is super productive and all but maybe it’s time you two get a move on, Dumbledore said you should leave right after the meeting didn’t he?”

Remus voice cut through the tension and Sirius and James simultaneously took a step back from each other. Sirius looking stubbornly away and James glancing up at Remus.

”Can I go with you instead? This one seems to be a bit of head case if you know what I mean.” Potter says to Remus pretending to lower his voice when he said the last sentence but still speaking loud and clear enough for Sirius to hear. 

”Or even better yet, what are you doing today love?” says Potter smiling as he’s catching Lily’s eyes behind Remus’ shoulder.

”Staying the fuck away from you I reckon” says Lily, and Remus, Peter and Sirius quickly turned their heads to look at her, a bit shocked (and in Sirius case, proud). Lily was usually a polite and kind girl, but her tolerance for this James Potter seems pretty much nonexistent.

”All right, no harm in asking” he says brightly, putting his hands up, but he seems a bit taken aback and Sirius finds himself calming down a bit by the glimpse of Potters humanity.

”No need to embarrass yourself further mate, let’s just go”

”I was doing fine” mumbles Potter, and with one last wink at Lily he follows Sirius down the street.


	2. Heroic thieving

JAMES

James had pictured his return to Britain a bit different. Growing up his dad had told him tales of Hogwarts, of the grand old castle with its many hidden corridors. Of the great lake and the beast that lived in it, The forbidden forest with all it’s dangerous creatures. Of the great feasts and the four different houses, and their proud history. ”You’ll be a Gryffindor like me” his father used to tell him, and James had believed him with all his heart. But when James was nine his parents decided to extend the family business to France. His mother had family there and Fleamont was eager to promote his company to the European market. They told James that he could still go to Hogwarts when he turned eleven, after all it was a boarding school. And he would be a long way from home either way. But the next year the ministry changed the rules, and only wizards and witches who lived in Great Britain or Irland was allowed to attend Hogwarts. James parents wrote countless of letters to head of the school board and even Dumbledore himself, but the ministry wouldn’t budge, even for an influential family like the Potters.

So James went to Beauxbatons, with it’s pretty gardens and bright halls, and never felt quite at home, though he never lacked in neither popularity nor academic success. By the time James graduated, the whispers of a dark lord rising back in his home country has turned to screams, and James knows exactly where he should be. He is not the kind of person who could sit idle by while the world went up in flames, so James leaves his elderly parents to go and join the fight. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter says goodbye to their only son with both worry and pride and he promises to write as often as he can. 

James gets in touch with Dumbledore, a friend of his parents who he knew as a young boy, and Dumbledore invites him over for dinner. James realizes quickly that the dinner is a test of James loyalties, and James figures he passed it when Dumbledore invites him to a meeting of the so called Order a week later. 

James not sure what he expects, but it’s not at all like what he finds in that old muggle warehouse in the suburbs of London. Instead of the elite force he had pictured in his mind there’s a wide concoction of people. He sees an old lady looking to weak to fight anything stronger than a cat and a pale man in his forties who taps his foot against the floor in a very nervous manner throughout the whole meeting. Some look pretty capable, but overall they all look like normal people to him. Or, as normal as a group of withes and wizards can look of course.

After the meeting a witch called Emilie Vance comes up to him, she tells him his mother was her favorite aunt growing up, and James tells her he remembers his mother taking about her. He and Dumbledore stands conversing with Mrs Vance for a while until Dumbledore excuses them and leads James across the room. They stop in front of a group of people his own age. He had already noticed two of the boys during the meeting but the third boy and the girl had been obstructed from his view. The group consists of a tired looking boy with intelligent eyes, a small round nervous looking boy, a ridiculously handsome black haired fellow with a threatening stare and a beautiful redheaded girl with the biggest greenest eyes James had ever seen. He finds the redheaded girl immensely distracting, and tunes out Dumbledores voice for a couple of seconds. The girl turns slightly red at his obvious interest in her, and he finds himself wanting to know her name, wanting to learn what else makes her blush.

LILY  
Sirius strides away, James Potter at his heels, and Lily turns to Remus and Peter.   
”Do you reckon they’ll kill each other?” she says.  
”Nah, they’re just being dramatic” says Remus.  
”I’ll bet you one gallon that Sirius will at least punch him in the face” says Peter.  
”He was at bit annoying, wasn’t he?” says Lily.  
”I like him, takes guts to stand up to Sirius when he’s like that” says Remus.  
”Or stupidity” says Lily.  
”Only time will tell” says Remus, and they all contemplate this for a moment.  
”Pub?” says Peter,  
”Pub!”says Lily and Remus as one man and Peter apparates away .  
”You reckon we got a bit of a drinking problem?” says Lily to Remus, Sirius wasn’t the only one who was nursing a bit of a hangover from last night.  
”Probably, says Remus, but I’m more worried about all the other shitload of troubles we got”  
”Hear, hear” says Lily, and apparates away her too.

JAMES  
James likes riling people up, it’s one of his many hobbies actually. And this angry young man standing before him is no exception. However, as James takes this defeating-evil-business very serious he fights to keep the make-fun-of-everyone-you-meet side of him doormat. He not sure if he plays the part very convincingly though, everyone seems pretty mad at him at this point. He follows angry handsome guy down the road, and crashes into his back when he abruptly stops.   
Sirius twirls around abruptly.  
”All right, shut up and listen Potter.”  
”I didn’t say anything”  
”I'm going to steal a book from a store owner in Diagon Ally who we suspects may be working with Voldemort.”  
”Cool.”  
”You are going to wait outside.”  
”No I’m not”  
”Yes you are, I need a look out.”  
”What do you need a lookout for, isn’t the owner already in the shop?”  
”I need you to stay out of my way.”  
”No what you need is a distraction.”  
”Actually the last thing i need is a distraction.”  
James signs,  
”I mean something to distract the shop owner with while we steals his stuff, a decoy, if you will.   
”Well I don’t need that either.”  
”Didn’t mean to insult your ability as a thief mate just thinking it would be fun”  
”Fun huh?” Sirius aggravated voice has a spike of interest in it now.   
”You’ll see, just do your thieving and I’ll do my distracting.”  
”Just stay back Potter, observe, maybe you’ll learn something.”  
Now staying back and observing was not something James really thought himself capable of, but he didn’t mention this to Sirius. He suspected that the young man who was his companion for the day possessed a stubbornness to rival his own, and didn’t bother to have another discussion on the matter. After all, James always did things his way in the end, and he rarely asked for approval. 

SIRIUS  
Sirius was having some difficulties, the shop owner was an observant and suspicious character, who wouldn’t let him out of his sight for a second. It made Sirius feel like a thief, (like an actually thief, he said to himself, not this self-sacrificing hero thieving he was up to of course).   
There was a loud explosion outside the store, and what looked like tiny, fire breathing, glittering dragons where flowing merrily through the air outside, setting fire to the awning of the book store. The shop owner ran to the door, and Sirius reluctantly but swiftly took this golden opportunity to run behind the counter, find the book in question, and replace it with a another book he quickly transfigured to look like the one he took. 

Sirius walked towards the exit and saw that one of the small firework dragons had escaped its flock and was now chasing the shop owner down the street, blowing puffs of flames at his bum all the way. Sirius shook his head, amused against his own will and rounded the corner, where he found James Potter right where he had left him. James leaned against the wall, and was moving his wand lazily, in the same frequency as the little glittering dragon was blowing fire at the shop owners pants. 

”A little over the top, don’t you think, Potter?” Sirius said and he catches himself struggle to keep his face straight.   
”Not for me” James says, and smiles wolfishly, ”Sorry I didn’t catch you last name before.”  
”I didn’t give it to you.”  
”Well please do, I’m dying of curiosity.”  
”What do you need my last name for?”  
”Well you’re calling me by my last name, seems kind of desperate if i called you by your first. Also my hit man always asks for full names, anything I can do to make his job easier you know, he works so hard.” James says, pocketing his wand.  
”Merlin..”  
”Really, Sirius Merlin? That doesn’t really flow of the tongue, do you have a really weird middle name to? Is your full name something like Sirius Elevendork Merlin? Because if it is you got it even worse than my dad.”  
”It’s Black”  
”Sirius Black Merlin?”  
”Just Sirius Black.”  
”Hm.”  
”Yep”  
”Toujours pur, huh?” James said, with a perfect pronunciation.  
”That’s the one.” says Sirius on a sigh.  
”So are your folks cool with you being in the Order?”  
”They don’t know, I haven’t talked to them in two years.”  
”Well good riddance probably. For you I mean, not them.” says James, trailing of and they both stay quiet for a couple of seconds, neither one looking at each other.   
”So whats your fathers name?” Sirius asks suddenly, and James smiles.  
”Fleamont” he says after a pause, and Sirius barks out a laugh. 

LILY

Lily’s levitating three beers in the air through the crowed pub, concentrating on not knocking anyone in the head or spilling any of it, she’d seen pub brawls started in this place for less. Normally she could to this with her eyes closed, as she was a very capable young witch, but after three rounds her abilities had lessened slightly. As she maneuvered a rather impressive save after a short woman had accidentally stomped on her foot, she thought about how this probably would have been easier done the muggle way.   
As she reaches their table the three pints hit the wood rather harder than she anticipated and poor Peter and Remus got splashed with some of the content.   
”Sorry boys” she says, flopping down in her chair with equal force, as Remus cleans his face with a flick of his wand. 

”No problem Lils” says Peter looking sadly at his chips, now soggy with beer.   
”I’ll by you new ones later” says Lily patting his shoulder.  
”Do you loser ever do anything else than drink?” says a familiar voice behind Lily.  
”Sirius!” says Lily happily.  
”Did you get the book?” she asks as he sits down between her and Remus.  
”Did you kill the french recruit?” says Peter slurping the foam from his new pint without picking it up from the table.   
”Are you going to go get your own drink because you’re not getting mine” says Remus, pulling his glass possessively to his chest. Remus was defiantly the lightweight of the group, even though he constantly denied it.   
”I did get it, piece of cake it was. And Frenchie’s in the bar getting our pints, so you get relax Remus and, I don’t know what answer you where hoping for Pettigrew.”  
”Naw, did you at least punch him in his smug little face?” says Peter and Sirius ignores him with a smile.  
”Why did it take you so long if it was a piece of cake?” says Lily suspiciously.  
”We made some stops afterwards.”  
”Where you punched him in the face!” Peter interrupts enthusiastically, punching the air, almost hitting Remus in the nose.   
”Where we took care of somethings that needed taken care of” Sirius says mysteriously.   
”Oh, and we got a new charge pipe for my bike, she’ll be running like a dream soon”.   
Lily groaned.  
”It’s so weird when you call it a she.”  
Sirius laughs, he seems to be in an unusual good mood, especially considering how grumpy he was a couple of hours ago. Behind him she sees the tall figure of James Potter pushing through the crowd, two pints floating gracefully through the air and landing so softly infront of Sirius that the liquid in them doesn’t even move. Lily scoffs, muttering ”show off” under her breath.   
He winks at her and she rolls her eyes.  
Potter grabs the empty chair between her and Sirius and pulls it out as they scoot out a bit to make room for him.

”How’s your day going?” he asks her and smiles, as if she hadn’t basically told him to fuck off a couple of hours ago.  
”It was going fine, until now” she says sweetly.  
James says something in french to Sirius that she doesn’t understand, and Sirius snorts. It would unsettle her if she didn’t know that Sirius never would have laughed if Potter had said something mean spirited about her. It strikes her, as they both smile, how similar the two young men are. Tall and black haired, handsome, mischievous smiles, the spark in their eyes. They look like brothers.   
”So are you two getting along now?” asks Lily later as Potter excuses himself to go to the mens room.   
”He’s okay.” Says Sirius, unhelpfully.   
”So he’s not a spy then?” says Remus dryly.   
”Nah, he’s..” Sirius trails of for a second ”He’s a bit like me actually, without the crazy family and the devilishly handsome good looks of course.”  
”I wouldn’t kick him out of bed” says Peter.   
”I would” mutters Lily. ”What did he say about me before? In French?”  
Sirius smirks, pauses then says ”He said he’s going to marry you”.  
”Merde” says Lily and takes another sip of her beer.   
”You could do worse Evans” says Sirius, already loyal to his new partner in crime.  
”And I could certainly do better.” She says, flipping her long plait over her shoulder. 

James  
James walked up the stairs with the slow walk of someone who had had a very long day with one to many drinks at the end. He was tired, but happy, drunk on life, as well as alcohol. Pleased to be back in London and eager and proud to finally have joined the fight against Voldemort, and exited over the group of friends he had made that day.   
Lily had called it at night about an hour after he and Sirius had arrived, she had to get up early for work the next day, but the rest of them, he and Sirius, Remus and Peter had stayed until they got thrown out when the pub closed. They had then spent the rest of the the night roaming the streets of London, visting clubs and bars until they at seven in the morning decided to call it a night when Peter fell asleep against a lamp post.   
James thought his new friends to be the coolest people he a had met in his life. Sirius was the first person he had ever come across who could actually keep up with him, and Remus was quick witted and smart as hell. Peter was more like the comic relief, but fitted in with the group like a hand to a glove just the same.   
And Lily, James thought with a little sign as he unlocked his door. Lily was undeniable, unescapable, trouble. She seemed immune to his charms, or maybe they just completely shut down when he was around her. He was thrown because, as good as he was at making enemies, he had never failed to be well liked by those people who's affections he desired. But her vivacious personality and quick mouth could not be denied, even with her clear dislike for him, she was, in James humble opinion, also the coolest.  
James was fascinated by this group of young fighters he had come across. All of them had went to Hogwarts. All of them was the same age as he. And all of them had been sorted into Gryffindor. And suddenly a feeling of deep melancholy hit him, because for the first time in his life, he could honestly say he knew what he had missed by being denied those seven years at Hogwarts.


End file.
